PRNGs aren’t random at all; they produce a deterministic sequence of numbers based on a seed value and an internal counter. Two PRNGs using the same algorithm and seed will produce the same sequence of numbers. The sequence is difficult to predict without knowing the algorithm and seed, and the values are close to evenly-distributed, which is enough like random numbers for a lot of use cases.

Here’s an example in Ruby:

seed = Random.new_seed()
=> 142757148148443078663499575299582907518
prng_1 = Random.new(seed=seed)
prng_1.rand()
=> 0.6702742156250219
prng_2 = Random.new(seed=seed)
prng_2.rand()
=> 0.6702742156250219
prng_1.rand()
=> 0.9667236181962573
prng_2.rand()
=> 0.9667236181962573

If you run this yourself using 142757148148443078663499575299582907518 as the seed, your first two pseudorandom numbers will also be 0.6702742156250219 and 0.9667236181962573, assuming your version of Ruby hasn’t changed its PRNG.

There was a recent related discussion on Hacker News and the top comment discusses why this sort of solution is not likely to be the best fit for smaller organizations. In short, doing it well requires time and effort from someone technically sophisticated, who must do more than the bare minimum for good results, as you just learned.

Even then, it’s likely to be less reliable than solutions hosted by big corporations and when there’s a problem, it’s your problem. I don’t want to discourage you, but understand what you’re committing to and make sure you have adequate buy-in in your organization.

• side left: flashlight, keys
• front left: phone
• front right: knife
• side right: pepper spray, coins
• back left: wallet

I’m confused by why they would do this, and at the same time, why not for private text messages.

I’m in favor of encrypting as much communication as possible, but I don’t think many of Discord’s users were complaining that their voice chart wasn’t secure. I’d expect more of them to care about text chart, which is less effort to spy on.

The fact that it’s been out for a year and federation is still only half-implemented suggests to me the decision to add it was pretty late in the development process, even if it was early in the marketing process.

Threads is for whoever Meta can sell it to, and I think it was pretty far along in its development before they actually committed to ActivityPub support.

Having used a butane iron before, I don’t think it would. They don’t have the temperature control modern digital irons can, and they’re forbidden on flights.

Signal and WhatsApp work with the free messaging option. I was a little surprised by Signal.

I’m inclined to agree, and said so in the linked thread.

Lemmy thread and link.

Basically, anyone who can read your home directory could decrypt your Signal database. That’s about typical of traditional desktop applications, but questionable for security-oriented software. Mac OS and (sometimes) Linux have more robust credential management options, and Signal signaled (yes, pun intended) its intent to adopt them.

That’s similar to the iFixit iron, as is the less expensive Pinecil.

Those are probably the best options currently available, but I want something more compact and self-contained.

I would not want multiple cells for reasons of ergonomics and convenience.

I probably don’t need 100W for most field soldering. 60 is plenty, and temperature-controlled soldering irons usually don’t need to pull high current continuously. It would need 60W for maybe 10 seconds when powered on, and when heating something large. The rest of the time, it takes relatively little power to keep the tip hot.

What I’m describing is, of course not the right tool for production soldering. It’s for field work.

Assuming the M12 CP1.5 battery pack, it’s probably three 18650s. Specifically, it’s probably three LG HB series 18650s, which handle high burst loads well, but hold only 1500 mAh. A single Sony VTC6 holds 2/3 the energy of one of those packs. Wait… why am I speculating? Youtubers tear down power tool battery packs on video all the time, and someone did that one. They’re Samsung 15Ms, which are a little worse than HBs.

Anyway, short runtimes are fine for most field repairs, which is the whole point of something entirely self-contained. Spare batteries can extend it indefinitely, but a battery soldering iron is probably not what I’d pick for extended soldering sessions.

I would accept a bit of an awkward balance for being self-contained.

Since 2014, but Android had already been out for six years at that point.

What I want from a battery soldering iron is a field-replaceable 18650 in the handle, not Webserial.

As a practical point, saying it in English will almost certainly communicate what you need to communicate. Almost everyone who makes international calls will recognize that you’re speaking English even if they don’t understand what you’re saying, which suggests that the Russian or Korean speaking person they’re trying to reach is not at that number.

We had several years of Android that mostly wasn’t. Now it’s hard work to get Android that isn’t.

The whole tech world saw Microsoft Palladium as a nightmare scenario, but was quiet ten years later when Apple and Google did the same thing to our phones. That was a mistake.

I understand why manufacturers did it; it bought them a bit more space.

I don’t. New phones are huge while older, much smaller ones somehow found room for the analog audio jack.